Sunday 6 November 2011

Tea Time Treats - Chocolate Ginger Macaroons



Lavender Lovage and What Kate Baked have teamed up to start a new monthly challenge called Tea Time Treats - obviously the best time of the day!

This months theme, chosen by Karen from Lavender and Lovage, is GINGER and BONFIRE TREATS.

As you may have noticed, I love autumn and winter - they are my favourite seasons (minus the rain!). The food is so wholesome and rich and I love snuggling up and eating it all! So this months theme is so me. I have already made a Ginger Bundt Cake so needed to think up a new idea. I know it doesn't have to contain ginger but I really wanted it to. I haven't put up any macaroons yet so thought this was a good opportunity.


This is the second time I have made macaroons, all the horror stories from other people had put me off, but not one to shy away from a challenge I finally tried them. Now they mostly turned out fine which I was pleased with. They weren't perfectly even and a few cracked on the top. They were crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside and had feet and everything! But after making them the boy and I realised neither of us had had macaroons before so we weren't sure if they were suppose to taste like that. Either way they were all eaten so I'll just avoid making friends with a macaroon connoisseur. I made them bright pink just because I love this colour.


I used a recipe from pink whisk here, then I used the chocolate ganache recipe from here. I substituted ginger instead of orange extract. I couldn't get the ganache to harden up, to use as a filling, so in the end had to add a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of icing sugar. I'm sure you'll have better luck.

The boy and I went to dinner with my parents, sister and niece and nephew then went to my parents local firework display which was great. 25 minutes long with ohhing and ahhing all the way through. We gobbled up the macaroons whilst waiting for the show to begin.


Just before they said "yuk" - possibly a ginger macaroon was too much for immature taste buds - ah well more for me!


10 comments:

  1. They look great! I've never tried them yet due to being convinced I won't be able to do it. Great colour aswell. Will have to check out this challenge!

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  2. What a WONDERFUL entry ~ so innovative and with great flavour combinations; I am in awe of your macaron making skills.....I think they look pretty perfect to me. I also LOVE the children's faces, yes, adult taste I think!
    A HUGE thanks for joining in the fun at Tea Time Treats this month and for your great entry.
    Karen

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  3. They look fantastic and although I am by no means a macaroon connoisseur, you describe them just as the experts do. They sound really good too. I expect if you'd put the ganache in the fridge for a while, it would have hardened up nicely - but I'm no ganache expert either.

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  4. Wow, I'm soooo impressed. I haven't tried macaroons yet, how brilliant that yours turned out so well first time. They look so cute, so do the sprogs, obviously the cakes were wasted on them!

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  5. Ohhhhh! Wowwwwww! Those look amazing- I'm so impressed. I've a terrible record with macarons... Thank you for entering!

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  6. They look just like thrones from La Duree! Did you pipe them or do them with a spoon?

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  7. I've only tried to make these once and they were a major fail! This makes me want to try again lol

    Nom! x

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  8. Ooh what a lush sounding combination!

    The macarons look really good! I like how you dyed them pink, I did the same with my last batch must be a girly thing :)

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  9. These look great! I am making scones for my friend's birthday this weekend- have any tips??

    Also I think you should make these:
    http://www.notquitenigella.com/2011/11/10/chorizo-sausage-rolls/

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  10. Thanks so much for your lovely comments. They were fun to make!

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